Get Inspiration for Your Career from the Silver Screen

Once in awhile, we need a dose of inspiration to keep us moving forward, or to overcome an obstacle. Good thing is that such inspiration is usually close by, and sometimes in places we never knew. Here are 5 movies from which you can draw valuable lessons;

Pursuit of Happyness:

Yes, they spelt the name ‘happiness’ wrong intentionally. This is a true story, portraying the rags – riches life of Chris Gardner (Will Smith). Life comes at him real fast when he loses everything including his home and his wife leaves him. All he has left is his son and a few portable scanners he had earlier invested in. He meets a manager at. Dean Witter and convinces him to take him in as an intern. That’s where his situation slowly takes a turn in the right direction. With sheer determination and hard work, he manages his new role as an intern balancing between making numerous sales calls in the mornings and making it in time to pick his son from the nursery school that has the word ‘happiness’ all wrong. All this while sleeping in shelters, buses and toilets at night. Chris Gardner, however, weathers it all, his eye on the goal, till he attains his dream of being a broker at Dean Witter.

Best Quote: “Don’t let anyone ever tell you that you can’t do anything. Not even me.”

Lesson: There is no shortcut to success. Hard work is the only way to achieve your dream.

Kung Fu Panda

This comical animated movie for kids may mistakenly pass for just that, an animated movie for kids. A closer look, however, reveals lifelong lessons in the undertones. Po is a lovable panda whose biggest dream is to become the kung fu master. His passion for the warriors, knowledge of who they are to the tiniest of details, and a stroke of luck, make him the chosen dragon warrior by Oogway. This is despite the fact that at the time, he was working in his father’s noodle restaurant, and was the recipient of ridicule due to his seemingly unfit rotund frame. He later trains hard and finally wins the respect and admiration of the village by defeating the dreaded evil leopard Tai Lung.

Best Quote: “One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it.”

Lesson: Opportunity meets the prepared mind.

Chef

The movie Chef tells the story of a highly acclaimed chef Carl Casper (Jon Favreau). He quits his big-time gig at a popular restaurant in Los Angeles after a publicized altercation with a famous food critic. He returns to Miami, his hometown, where he establishes a food truck and reconnects with his ex-wife. He then invites his young son to join him in the long drive back to LA on the food truck, selling Cubanos along the way. The movie shows, in a touching and humorous way, someone who loses it all then deals with a lot of challenges while trying to get back up and follow their passion.

Best quote:“I may not do everything great in my life, but I’m good at this. I manage to touch people’s lives with what I do and I want to share this with you.”

Lesson: It does not matter how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get up.

3 Idiots

This is one of the most popular Bollywood movies that embodies the struggles of most college students around the world. The movie narrates the enthralling story of 3 friends in an engineering college trying to balance their dreams and their personal passions. They are trying to fight back prevailing situations that force them to study in fields they don’t want, in a highly regulated and dramatic way. With the guidance of Phunsukh Wangdu (Aamir Khan), Farhan Qureshi (Madhavan), and Raju Rastogi (Sharmaan Joshi), they gain confidence to pursue their dreams and live beyond the prevailing circumstances that burden the lives of students.

Best Quote: “Success ke peeche mat bhago. Kabil bano, success to jhak marke peeche ayegi!” (Do not run behind the success. Be capable, the success will come back after dash!)

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